1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the programming of data necessary to hold and store food product in a commercial kitchen using a hand held terminal or hand held computer, and more specifically relates to programming product quality times and temperatures necessary to properly hold cooked product using a hand held terminal or hand held computer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In most restaurants, food quality in commercial kitchens is a very high priority. The prepared food must be properly timed to insure proper food quality. Currently, there are many pans or trays of food that are being timed in kitchens. The hold times are preset for each timer in the timer system. Each pan location has a single button that sets the hold time for each product pan. All the preset hold times must be checked for proper settings. Currently, the preset hold times are programmed from the keyboard of the timer system. Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a hand held portable device that could be preprogrammed with hold times for each pan location, then connected to the timer system to check and set the proper preset hold times.
In restaurants today when new menu items are added, the hold times must be programmed into the hold timer system. Currently, each location that has the new menu item must be programmed using the keyboard of the timer system. Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a hand held portable device that could be preprogrammed with hold times for each pan location, then connected to the timer system to check and set the proper preset hold times.
In most restaurant chains, an area manager must check the hold times in the holding cabinets at many locations. This is time consuming and can lead to errors. Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a hand held portable device that could be connected to the holding cabinet that checks and sets the preset hold times.
In most restaurants, the prepared food must be properly held at safe temperatures to insure that food born illness is avoided. Food holding cabinets exist today with temperature controls that are set from the front panel. Users at the control panel may incorrectly set these set temperatures. When several holding cabinets are in a kitchen, it becomes difficult to check and set the set points of each of the temperature controllers. Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a hand held portable device that could be connected to the holding cabinet to check the standard temperature set points and reset them, if necessary.
In most restaurant chains, an area manager must check the Temperature set points in the holding cabinets at many locations. This is time consuming and can lead to errors. Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a hand held portable device that could be connected to the holding cabinet that checks and sets the holding temperatures.
In most restaurant chains, the corporation sets the temperature and hold times of new menu items. Currently, written communications are used to distribute this information. Using this information, the restaurant manager must program the hold temperatures and hold times using the keyboards of the holding cabinets and hold timer system. Therefore, it would be advantageous to have the information transmitted in an electronic file that can be read by a hand held portable device, which could be connected to the holding cabinet that sets the holding temperatures and hold time. The disclosure of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/692,578 filed Oct. 19, 2000 is incorporated herein by reference.
In most restaurants, the checking of proper settings of temperature set points in temperature control is done through a keyboard. Therefore, it would be advantageous to have the set points and timers checked via wired or wireless devices.